The DWmegawad Club plays: #1 Kill & Number One Kill TNG

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 10: The Wicked Metal Garden

 

Were you holding your breath for the moment when the wad decided to go full Hell Revealed? Well, behind the first keyed door, roughly in the east in this set of narrow marble walls that run toward a Baron face in a manner that made me think of the entrance to Lethal Lava Land from Super Mario 64, despite the aesthetics being entirely different. Not to mention, ammo and health once again prove themselves to be completely and utterly premium and definitely more so than the last map, at least until around halfway through where ammo's concerned, but it's not good enough

 

The beginning at the least is quite amusing; a switch dumps into a tiny room surrounded by hitscanners which then opens into a large metal courtyard enveloped by Plutonia-style vines. It is quite clear that we've entered pure abstract territory at this point, but despite there being a fair amount of marble and metal hallways seemingly everywhere, the layout flows fantastically. Also, hats off to the linked secrets down in the obvious sewers in this map actually making sense, as new rooms will open up when you step in the appropriate secrets. This large building has a moderately impressive entrance and foyer as well, appropriate decor for demon central incorporated. 

Progression is basically just hitting switches and then teleport to random but adjacent spots.

 

But the trap to the west mentioned above......is the absolute WORST. So basically, after having fought through some moderately difficult combat, we end up in this hall with a Baron of Hell or two, along with a Cacodemon and some other stuff.....but farrrr more is revealed when the berserk pack is picked up including a mass of pinkies and more Revenants (yes, there is one or two that we meet before we meet the Cacos). We would exit with 5 percent health.

 

It wasn't as bad as the YK fight, though. Large and open but we are confronted by a huge mass of Cacodemons, half a dozen Mancubi and an Arch-vile. Needless to say, our health was low enough that it was as surprising as anyone we were able to kill the arch-vile despite them sort of running behind the Mancubi.

 

After this, things slow down considerably, but action still remains consistent. As if to ram in the preference for continuous play, there's a quite-obvious secret behind a pipe wall to the exit's right that would probably restock our health.

 

I'm very torn. This comes close to one of the best maps, but the main issue is the grindiness of the yellow key fight and the cramped nature of the marble fight. At the same time, being teleported away from the SS was...not something that should be done in a megawad of this caliber. At 12, (the map with the BFG) I will certainly be going continous.

lmd_#1killtng10.zip

Edited February 19, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Roofi]

Number One Kill The Next Generation - Map 11 "Circle of Death"

 

 

Despite being an another level with an unmodified title,"Circle of Death" deserves its name. The nastiest fights take place in the giant circular arena with the triangular signature at its centre. This area is so vast I got my first crash because of VPO in this wad, and I can tell you that getting VPO in 90's doom wads is an uncommon thing because most of the mappers weren't talented enough to create convincing places such as Jefferson. Apart from the circular room, Angelo makes you explore in a kind of rocky maze which is also heavily detailed according to the vanilla limits. Also, I like the tribute to the fourth episode of Ultimate Doom at the beginning, but the water seems lethal. Quite strange.

 

Besides that, most of the map follows a traditional scheme. I don't have anything specific to say about the other combats. The library is by the most annoying part , not because of difficulty but rather because of the WR lifts and the obscure switch to find in order to progress.

 

'"Circle of Death" mostly catched my eyes for its massive scale. The more traditional gameplay results into a kind of breather map despite several effective arch-viles showed up. I felt I still struggled more in the previous maps.

 

Grade : B+

 

 

[Veeda Vidlak]

Posting a couple levels now. Edit: Actually that looked like an eyesore block of text. I'll just do one at a time.

 

Map07 “Gateway to Hell”

 

Took a trio of Ls in this one, which is the most Hell Revealed 2 of our maps so far. If you know what you’re doing, it’s a high speed romp with a formidable finish but coming in blind will probably be more frustrating than anything.

 

We start back in our customary little stone room which opens into a long hallway with a PE, a caco, and an annoying sniping revenant. Run behind the switch (don’t hit it yet) to grab an SSG and kill the two spheroids, though the rev you can probably ignore. Hitting the switch opens the walls to give us our Dead Simple part of the megawad… sort of. Six mancubi on platforms with items and switches, surrounded by a 20% blood lake with no radsuit to be found.

 

I died twice trying to figure out what in the world was happening here. Hitting any of the switches just lowers the platform for a few seconds, which at first glance doesn’t advance the board state. The mancubi generally don’t leave (though they might get stuck) and swiping the items didn’t seem to get me anywhere. I couldn’t experiment for long because I took at least one blood lake hit each time I went switch bopping and there isn’t anywhere else I could go. When I tried just killing a mancubus from the safety of the hallway floor I was dismayed to see another one promptly port in (seriously?).  

 

Alright, so here’s the trick. You need to physically step on each platform to slowly raise a lift that lets you reach the revenant’s alcove and hit a switch to continue the level. That in and of itself is important but truly critical is knowing that bullying your way onto the middle platform of the southern three magically changes the blood lake to harmless stone. Now free of your little slab of rock you can kill the mancubi (they only respawn once each) and claim your prizes while raising the lift to proceed. You won’t have enough shells to kill all 12 but you can use the chaingun to finish off any stragglers (or punch them, which I'm bad at doing). Oh, also, don’t worry about any nastiness when you off the final fatboi. Tag 666 isn’t actually used and if it is I never noticed how.

 

Moving on, hitting the alcove switch opens up more walls revealing two armies of hitscanners led by arachnos and revenants. This is a great fight and I’d recommend going after the revenant faction first (because the spiders won’t reach you as fast). Use plasma here, you’ll want the rockets for the final fight, and watch your movement because the newly opened areas are in more damaging blood. After everything is dead hit a pair of switches across the blood ponds that advance us to the last part of the level. If you’ve been able to hang on this long without needing that megasphere, grab it before the second switch.

 

Hitting switch #2 triggers a prime holy shit moment that is my pick for hardest fight in the wad so far. Five archviles are revealed that attack in two squads, three from the opposing blood pond and two from the wall to your left (initially inactive as they’re deaf). Playing blind, I saw a couple viles at the far end and completely underestimated the firepower Angelo was willing to throw at me. I ran out to engage them and got attacked by the two behind me, resulting in a brawl I very much did not win.

 

This fight is awesome. It demands immediate, decisive action or else the viles and revived enemies will spread out like kudzo, pummeling you from all directions into doomguy paste. Getting back here I played aggressively and found an approach that worked on both my successful playthroughs. As soon as you hit the switch, run over and take position near the earlier alcove, facing the lowering wall. Once you start seeing the viles, open up with the rocket launcher to take them out IMMEDIATELY. Tank a hit if you have to, these two need to die before you get targeted by the three approaching behind you (who will be momentarily distracted by resurrecting shit). If you drop this first group fast enough, you’re in control of the encounter, as the remaining three archies will all be together and much easier to keep a handle on. After this the only concern is a bit more blood wading, none of the remaining enemies are a threat.

 

Gateway to Hell is a bloody deathbox that ends with a thundering bang. The esoteric mancubi section gave an irksome first impression but with foresight it’s actually pretty fun too. It’s my favorite level so far, with the only dislike being the respawning mancubi. Fast, violent, and punishing are three traits I love seeing in doom and TNG picks up a ton of energy leading into map 8. 

Edited February 19, 2023 by Veeda Vidlak

[Book Lord]

MAP 11 – Circle of Death

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Pistol start, non-blind run w/saves

 

The fourth and last slot to share the name with its Doom II counterpart, Circle of Death was a fascinating level that could have aspired to vanilla perfection, if only its creator had been a little more thoughtful and accurate in the execution. The progression was full of surprises and nice combat, and pistol start was not a huge deal thanks to the sensible resource distribution. Angelo Jefferson limited the odd puzzles to the door in the starting room, unblocked by a switch behind an easy fake wall. The SSG was there as well.

 

Once past the hitscanner-heavy preamble and having obtained a Megaarmour through a clever system, I entered the western courtyard. The same area was used twice: first at ground level as a miniature Slough of Despair maze with Demons, Imps, and elevated Chaingunners, then as a platforming section to reach a secret ledge and a teleporter to the BSK. I missed the chainsaw because I dismissed the strange dead end without even checking the wall. A plasma rifle was provided behind the locked door, a sign that something dangerous lay ahead.

Spoiler

The clunky lift & switch contraption to access the titular Circle of Death chamber should have encouraged me to get inside as soon as possible, instead of camping that ghost monster generator. The Arch-Vile resurrected a squished Demon that chased me everywhere and I could not kill him with 2 rockets, so I must reload. The titanic chamber was full of opposition but large enough for running around in circles, singling out the most threatening enemies. The hotbed floor was not damaging, but the pit around the central structure was temporarily inescapable. A few HoM effects, caused by accidentally flipped linedefs, ruined an otherwise magnificent scenario, that promised more action before the end of the level.

Spoiler

The library with bookcases going up and down like lifts recreated similar places from Doom II or Plutonia, but the switch hunt was clunky and prone to soft lock the player. Moreover, making the room ceiling 1 unit higher than the floor of the closets was a bad idea, since it allowed sniping the Imps from below. A monster closet was tied to a random Medikit I did not pick up, so I left with 3 alive enemies. The path continued through corridors and up to a weird room with a MARBFAC3 surrounded by scrolling piles of skulls, and behind them a cage full of baddies. The Baron of Hell in the 64-unit corridor was a literal door with health, but the elevator at the bend made the fight less trivial than usual. The YSK was not far away.

Spoiler

I backtracked to the Circle of Death and entered the yellow door: the switches exposed the core room, raising four bridges that worked as lifts to leave the pit. Jefferson could have built them since the beginning, thus avoiding the check mark on inescapable pits. The static Cyberdemon was plasma fodder, but the chaos that ensued after touching the RSK was memorable. Circle-strafing was the way to go, wisely exploiting columns to stop both Revenant rockets and Arch-Vile immolation attacks. Any pause before the Arch-Viles lay dead was dangerous, and I was always slain when trying alternative approaches. Getting to the exit was only a matter of time, but if you want to max out the map you must find the hidden Chaingunner, pick up the cells, and backtrack to find a new teleporter near the red door. The author rewarded continuous players with a Soul Sphere and a heap of precious ammo, placed in a pit seen multiple times during exploration. Some technical problems, for which I blame Angelo’s haste and lack of polish, undermined the map’s solid combat design and compelling visuals. A missed opportunity to continue an excellent streak, but still good.

Spoiler

 

[Helm]

MAP 11

This is a large one, with a titular circle of death in the middle. Took a long time living in here and still didn't get 100% but more because I started to lose momentum not because it's super hard or something... I took an early exit and didn't try to clean up every monster and every secret. I had some ammo troubles that had to do with routing, again, although I did commit to rocketing down a cyber in the middle that I should have used my plasma on, in hindsight. It's not like I feel compelled to rocket cybers, ever, so something about making it in that room and seeing only rocket ammo for him made me think the mapper had counted things just so and that's what they wanted me to do, but then after getting the cyber they let loose two archies and a pack of revenants in the open layout, so I miscalculated that and had to eat a lot of restarts and ammo runs to disparate parts of the map to eventually clean up the viles. At that point I wasn't playing this map, I was playing generic doomguy archvile janitor, how can we clean this up without any ammo? It's a game alright, but it has little to do with this mapset in particular, you can play this game on any map where you run into archviles without ammo. Guess that's where my enthusiasm kind of deflated and I decided to exit map without 100% 100% but that's ok... 

I am pretty certain the missing secret is a mega, that would have made a predictable amount of difference on this map...

This map has a lot of places where if you don't play the correct way you can find yourself with only a full restart as an option. Even though I found myself in some of these spots, I savescummed to power through to see if recovery is possible. It is, but again, I don't think these maps were designed with this in mind, these maps were designed with continuous play, where you pick up the mega on your way out, lol, it's pretty clear.

The difficulty is up a slight increment from the prior map, but this doesn't necessarily lead to more fun in this case. It was a bit of a struggle and I remember feeling 'eh, fuck it, grab the exit' by the end, which is never a hugely great sign about the experience -- though sometimes after the exhaustion some other, more palatable aftertaste lingers. We will see at the end of the whole set what the taste is. I actually had a better time on the whole on this map than my writeup suggests, this is a fun, challenging map that would benefit greatly from more than a blind run. I think getting to terms with the mapset from here on out might benefit from a blind run and a non-blind run, but I am not sure I have the time. The thread is doing this - and much more - in aggregate anyway. footage

[Celestin]

MAP11: Circle of Death

 

Look, another unaltered title. 

 

This is probably the best looking map so far, with a variety of sights to see. We have a rocky maze which reminds me of Slough of Despair, a cramped library, and the titular circle, one of the largest area we've seen in TNG.

 

The highlight of the map is easily the round arena, where multiple fights are being set. The first is not great, though. To even get inside, you need to step on a pedestal on the right of a room, then run left, where a pillar lowers. Press the switch from below to open a quickly closing door. Now, there are monsters on the other side, naturaly, including arachnotrons and an archvile. You can either sprint out and try your luck, or, as I did, attempt doorfighting. This quickly devolved into a cycle of running between two spots, opening the door, trying to deal as much damage as possible and repeat when the door closed. I couldn't even push forward, as enemies grouped by the entry point. It was tedious, but I have only myself to blame. It gets much better when you return from with the yellow key. Flipping a pair of switches opens a central structure with a cyberdemon standing on the red key. While he's a waste of time and cells, grabbing the key teleports a small army of revenants and pinkies plus two archviles. It's a hectic fight and I like it a lot. You have a lot of room to move, but you have to manage long-range missiles and viles' lines of sight.

 

I briefly mentioned the library. You need to visit it on your way to the yellow key. To proceed, you have to lower the bookshelves with imps on top, ride up and press a switch, then repeat on another shelf. While the fight itself is okay (I have nothing against killing groups of imps with a super shotgun in tight hallways), I got locked on one of the shelves with no way down. It's a massive screw-up, which might lead a player to believe they should search for the exit elsewhere.  

 

Despite this blunder and few other technical issues (HOM here, missing texture there), Circle of Death is a decent map and a visual high point of the wad so far.

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map08 “Hell’s Welcome”

 

About as welcoming as I’d expect hell to be, this map attempts an opening round KO before taking us back to last month with an SSG focused resource deprivation crawl.

 

Starting with a berserk, I went up the lift, punched a pinky, and died in two seconds. Alright. Taking a mulligan, I immediately went after the lone chaingunner to the right which worked better, though I still ended up badly injured by the time the area was clear. This is easily the most vicious start yet, with several hitscanners, pinkies, and two caged revenants that quickly get reinforced by cacos from up the stairs… and all you have is a berserk. My second playthrough I immediately ran up the stairs, KO’d the gunner up there, then grabbed the SSG to kill the cacos, which left me healthier but I think I got lucky.

 

Side note: You can totally grab the blue skull key through the bars.

 

Moving on, we start the (normal) path to the blue key, beginning with a crucial megaarmor as well as a fair bit of ammo to stock up on. We also have another secret not secret (in the blue armor room) containing two medkits and a soulsphere, which are godsends to anyone critically injured from the start. If you performed a grab to get the key and don’t care about kills you can turn back now, otherwise we have a short grind that’s more tedious than deadly. Try to watch ammo use here, there isn’t much in the level and you want to have enough for the ending.

 

In fact, there honestly isn’t much else to discuss until the ending, so lets just skip to that (continue to berserk what you can to conserve ammo).

 

Your stock SSG grind will eventually come to an outdoor nukage ravine, which houses the second big moment of the level. This place is initially well guarded with hard to extract spiders and revs among other things, but this is nothing.  Jumping into the ravine, you’ll find that the little metal platforms sink when stepped on, but there's a radsuit to help you out. Take the lift (the one down the channel) up to a room with two elementals and some lower tiers. My blind run I was actually out of ammo here and had to punch everything, which is doable. Hitting the switch reveals the yellow key and the rocket launcher, which you will absolutely need because grabbing the key opens the doors across the ravine, unleashing three barons and about 10 or so cacos to block your escape.

 

This fight is really well designed. The only way back is a moderate size lift in the nukage, where the barons have made camp. You can rocket them from the key platform but the cacos will interfere with this plan quickly. Fighting the barons from the nukage is possible, but you’d better use that radsuit wisely and the cacos bearing down on you become very threatening. Playing blind, I ran out of rockets but managed to slip past the remaining baron in the slime tunnel, escaping to the upper ground. Next run I’d better managed my ammo and cleared the cacos with some rockets and the SSG, saving the bulk of my rockets for the barons, which seems to be the way to go. To finish we have an outrageous plasma secret that infuriates me to no end, given how pitiful the remaining enemies are. Both runs it felt kind of like I was being taunted as I mowed down crap with the plasma while leisurely strolling to the exit.

 

Hell’s Welcome is… pretty good, punctuated by its start and finish but with the rest of the level still being meaningful. It tests the player’s ability to diagnose a difficult situation with its first area then tests their resource management with the remainder of the map. One thing I've noticed is Angelo is really good with his fliers, something I was seeing hints of in the first wad. There's been some chatter here on the natural comparison between this wad and Hell Revealed, which I've enjoyed reading. I agree with Book Lord's observation on scale (quality vs quantity) and Roofi's statement that TNG is more creative in its encounter design. I'll wait to say more because as I write this, I have in fact only played through the first 8 maps. Book Lord also mentioned the next group improves on some of the shortcomings of 7 and 8, so I for one can't wait to see them.

 

One more thing. I decided to do seven trials each of two beginning strategies to see which one seemed better. The first group (stairs approach) I ran up the stairs and grabbed the SSG, trying to punch the chaingunner up there beforehand. The second group (ground approach) I immediately ran to the right and killed the chaingunner there, then cleared the ground floor sans revenants before heading upward. A trial was considered complete once both the top and bottom were clear, including revs and the hitscanners behind bars around the red key, but not the enemies up the lift leading to the blue armor area. Attempt types were alternated to best account for a practice effect.

 

Stairs approach: I ended up at 13%, 14%, 3%, 61%, 80%, dead, and 63% 

 

Ground approach: I ended up at 94%, 55%, 51%, 39%, 76%, 48%, and 20%.

 

Adding that both groups were getting a balanced mix of rng, the second method appears to be more consistent. Some observations

 

1. The ground approach limits exposure to hitscan fire. You don’t have to walk down the stairs to engage the ground enemies except revenants.

2. The chaingunner up top in the stairs approach can cause problems. If he ran behind someone or took 2 (or 3) punches to kill I was in trouble. The one on the ground can never wander away and you're pretty safe in the corner if the rng slows you down with limp dicked punches.

3. The cacos are deadlier in the ground approach, as they float down and harass you while trying to deal with pinkies and rev missiles. You also fight them without the SSG.

 

Not particularly meaningful given the club is a few days past this level but I thought I'd post it in case anyone is interested.

[Azure_Horror]

#1 kill New Gen

UV, Pistol Start, DSDA-Doom, Saves

 

Map 06 Central Command

 

Central Command is a map genre of its own. 400 monsters, mostly low-tiers. Expansive and windy corridors, but easy to navigate. Lots of close-quarter ambushes, but many long-range fights too. The level feels like a 100% 90-ties map, but it is very unique nontheless. In the Year Of Our Lord 2023 this map feels like a lost level from 2021 Down the Drain. @Benjogami, you didn't fail to grasp authentic 90-ties map design! Here we have an authentic 90-ties map which clearly displays some DtDr design vibes.

 

Map 07 Gateway to Hell

 

Double subversion - this map is not a Doom2  map07-special map, yet it looks exactly like a Doom 2 map07-special map!

There are key mancubi here, but they do not trigger anything importnant. Map progression is tied to special linedefs on mancubi platforms. No tags 666 or 667 were used, yet the mancubi still play important role in the map progression! Spicy!

 

Gameplay is also quite nice - there is a very fun balance of hitscanners and mid-tiers, and even a strong archvile wave in the end. Overall, I think this is a very cool level. It is a bit obtuse to route (damaging floor being easily disabled may feel a bit like cheating), but it is still a fun, action-oriented experience.

 

Map 08 Hell’s Welcome

 

What a fitting name! One can say, that this map Reveals the meaning of Hell to the player...

Yep, from now on, Hell Revealed becomes a proper point of comparison.

 

The map start and the map end are the most brutal, Start of the map provides no armor, but lots of hitscanners from multiple directions, and presents quite a challenge due to all this. And the map end suddenly drops a huge bucket of big monsters in a very unfriendly terrain. To succeed at conquering the map end, the player must to sepnd all the resources wisely. It is importnat to not wasye a single UV rad-suit, and it is very adviseble to have 200/200 Helath and armor together with a lot of ammo. Doomguy should embrace his inner Scrooge and save everything he can for the final confrontation. For me, such aproach to map routing feels very Hell Reveled. And many evil fights only strenthen the Hell Revealed resemblance.

 

Map 09 The Pit
 

Proper route once again becomes the main challenge of the map. Technically, you can reach the exit with zero keys collected, but good luck blindly navigating the damaging floor maze without rad suits! To unlock the suits, you will need all three keys - and it is quite a quest in itself. Thus, this is another map which reminds me of Hell Revealed. Unexpected challenges, beefy opposition, long runtime - sounds like HR in my book!

 

BTW, this map feels like it is a bit unfinished. There is zero marked secrets, yet quite a few hidden bonus items. On top of that, picking yellow key with closed door causes the door to lock permamently - quite a nasty softlock bug, which can be easily avoided by openning the door beforehand.

 

Map 10 The Wicked Metal Garden and Map 11 Circle of Death

 

More Hell Revealed, but with some Plutonia vibes too. Those two maps are less route-depended than the previous pair, but are still quite cruel for a blind playthrough. Like map 09, those two maps are not the most memorable, but not especially forgettable either. I am especially fond of the 2-floor rock mase in map 11.

[Monsieur E]

Got caught up with other stuff, so will be catching up within the coming days!

Map04: "Country Side"
(I didn't track my stats for this one unfortunately)

I don't see the "country side" here, looks like just another techbase. This map's experience can be split half after you get the super-shotgun, the segment before it is tedious and can get on your nerves since your regular pump-action can't handle the hoards being tossed at your direction sufficiently, forcing you to run for the super-shotgun which you would have noticed at the start right next to the blue key. Here, the map tosses a lot of flying enemies at you especially with meatballs who will cut down your limited ammo supply by pumping out lost souls. After you get the super-shotgun, the map simplifies much further and the trek back is much less tedious, but still a challenge. Honestly, I didn't really have fun with the map much and it kinda looks really bad but I respect what it offers. 

Map05: "Radioactive Substace [sic] Control"
134/143 kills, 4/7 secrets, 8:35 

I don't mind this map too much. The abundance of hitscan snipers often out of reach and health depravation are not a good combination, but I think the main combat around the lowly lit central nukage area works pretty well and also to mask the otherwise ugly looking techbase. The maze section is strange and honestly pretty stupid. I like the moodiness of the map in the first section, with its low light levels and nukage hub, a bit like e2m5 from the original #1kill. The area with the star trek symbol is fine I guess but I mostly like it for the megasphere at the end. Entering the hitscanners' sniping gallery back at the start, you can facerocket yourself with the RL you pick up in the pitch dark room, which isn't really too useful considering it's very close to the end. Overall, this was an okay map, would've been better with more health.

[Ralgor]

MAP11 - “Circle of Death” AKA "Circle of Exasperation"
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl2, UV, Pistol start, blind run, single segment
100% kills and secrets
Deaths: 2, but one soft-lock

 

My original write-up of this level was way too long, and way too angry. Here's my second attempt at this.

 

This map at its base is awesome, with some of the best visuals we've seen so far. Unfortunately, it's ruined by soft-locks, slime trails, and some elements that are designed to make you angry.

 

This map is, in some ways, the opposite of the last one. MAP10 starts out with a brutal start, but gets progressively easier as you progress through the map. This one starts out pretty easy, but gets increasingly tough the farther in you get, culminating in a very fun fight with two archviles and their cohort.

 

The problem is that the design of the map is just needlessly exasperating. Right off of the bat in the first room is a fake wall with a chaingunner behind it. This won't cause you a problem if you know it's there or get lucky, but I'm sure someone had a run cut short due to it. Plus a switch for progression is hidden behind it.

 

The megaarmor isn't that hard to grab. If you fall into the water however, you're now stuck. It's not ok to soft-lock the player randomly like this. It's not even a secret, and the water isn't damaging. The platform even uses lift textures, so you might assume it would act as a lift.  Edit: nevermind, this isn't a soft-lock.

 

Then you have the switch in the lift that's triggered by running across a platform. You might think running out the door is the best solution, but the arch-vile charging at you is going to dissuade you from that. Then you have to constantly run back and forth to open the wall for a moment so you can fight the monsters. It's just a waste of time. It would have been much better to just lower the wall permanently. That would make this fight more difficult without being more annoying.

 

The arena that gives this map its name has a number of slime trails throughout it. This may have been beyond the mapper's control, but it's still distracting.

 

And then the cherry on top is the bookshelf lifts. Three of the four initial lifts that drop when you enter the soulsphere platform don't have switches to get out. So if you're unlucky or just curious (as I am) you will get soft-locked. This happened to me, and it made me so angry I had to exit out and go do something else. This can't be an accident because there is a switch in one of the bookshelf lifts, and in the lift before you get to the big arena. So he simply chose not to put switches here.

It makes it worse that the the map before the library is actually fairly boring. I only died once before this point, and that was due to a face-rocket.

 

The best part of this map is the RSK fight. It's not super difficult if you know it's coming, but it did kill me once. I kind of wish this arena was used more though. A separate fight in here after the YSK might have been fun too.

 

Anyway, I'm giving this a bad grade. The intentional soft-lock design rubs me the wrong way.

 

Grade: F

 

MAP11 - 25:31.09 (25:31)  K: 253/253  I: 8/8  S: 6/6

ralgor_#1killtng11.zip

 

Edited February 19, 2023 by Ralgor
Bad assumption about the megaarmor

[Helm]

3 minutes ago, Ralgor said:

 

The megaarmor isn't that hard to grab. If you fall into the water however, you're now stuck. It's not ok to soft-lock the player randomly like this. It's not even a secret, and the water isn't damaging. The platform even uses lift textures, so you might assume it would act as a lift.

 

I echo your sentiment on the other softlocks but I think you can get out of the blue armor water by using the pedestal to lower it to get back up, that's what I did at least! it's in my footage. Are we talking about the same bit?

[Ralgor]

38 minutes ago, Azure_Horror said:

On top of that, picking yellow key with closed door causes the door to lock permamently - quite a nasty softlock bug, which can be easily avoided by openning the door beforehand.

 

This isn't a soft-lock, actually. It may look like it, but you just have to wait out the door close action. I had to do this in my demo of this map.

[Ralgor]

Just now, Helm said:

I echo your sentiment on the other softlocks but I think you can get out of the blue armor water by using the pedestal to lower it to get back up, that's what I did at least! it's in my footage. Are we talking about the same bit?

 

You're right. I looked at it in the editor and I guess it just all blended together. I never had to use it as a lift myself, and I haven't gotten around to watching the other playthroughs of this map yet. I'll edit my post.

 

I think I got confused by the fact that the central line is a WR line to raise the platform again. I didn't think much of it until after the other soft-lock. I guess I'm just paranoid now. lol

[Helm]

It deffo is not a good sign that there's enough legit softlocks and enough delayed doors in this set that you can never trust it.

[Azure_Horror]

Nowadays, I mostly do not mind softlocks tha much.

 

If you play map competitively - you'd better to route it beforehand.

All unseen obstacles present a risk in a blind playthrough. Softlocks are more obnoxious than, say, sudden crushers, but they too require you to simply restart the map. Not that big of a deal in the end, IMO.

 

And if you play the map casually - there is always -idclip. If the mapper made a mistake - it is only fair to fix that mistake in a convinient way.

 

Softlocks become really annoying in two situations:

1) If they are really hard to avoid "fairly".

Or

2) If -idclip-ing away breaks the map due to skipping important triggers.

 

So far, I didn't encounter any of those 2 situations in #1 kill.

[Book Lord]

MAP 12 – Stra(n)ge Universe

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Pistol start, non-blind run w/saves

 

The recurrent spelling mistake on the letter “n” in the level’s name was only the first quirk of Stra(n)ge Universe. A(n)gelo Jefferson embraced the seminal abstractness of the third episode of Doom II and created a map rich in bizarre settings, awkward puzzles, and dimensional travel, held together by a strong and abrasive glue of violent assaults, often taking place when emerging from a warp gate. The first of such instances was the YSK trap, a guaranteed cheap death if the SSG in the nearby room was not collected beforehand.

Spoiler

No way to obtain the key for now, so I entered a weird area with enemies on crystal sectors, melting with the sky floor for a very unusual effect. The twisting path in the middle and the blue door suspended above the floor were enough to achieve an everlasting impression. The nearby chamber was conquered shell after shell, until I pressed a switch that revealed the large cross contained in the blood waterfall, along with Barons, Cacodemons, and the BSK. Walking through a blue door that led nowhere required a suspension of disbelief, but I must recover my wits quickly to withstand the nasty welcome that followed the teleport.

Spoiler

The mystical journey brought me to a room with a central platform where Barons were haphazardly teleporting between blinking sectors. After dealing with the monsters, I tested myself with the warp puzzle, which I did not understand but eventually I was able to reach the mandatory switch and then the other side, collecting the plasma rifle and a decent stock of cells. Closet ambushes continued until a teleporter sent me back on top of the YSK, which was just collected since the trap had already been disarmed. This part would have worked better if the ambush had not been spoiled; apparently, Angelo though it was better to expose a deadly setup at the beginning, instead of killing the player deep inside the map.

Spoiler

Backtracking to the yellow door was necessary but quick, and the new unconventional gate sent me to what seemed the carbon copy of the area I just left, giving the illusion that the monsters had been mysteriously resurrected. It was another area though, as suggested by the loud clatter of Arachnotrons and their Spiderdemon mother. From their invisible platforms, constantly moving up and down, they dominated an area with an elliptical walkway surrounded by a blood pit, another Circle of Death spin-off. The absurd situation got a hearty smile out of me, and their clumsy infight made for a great comical relief, with the last Arachnotron prevailing thanks to my help. The RSK was there but the step was too tall for poor Doomguy to climb; the problem was fixed by pressing switches in the nearby courtyard. The author built a safe bunker for his former humans to defend, obstructing the player’s vision with trees, disturbing movement with damaging blood, and placing holes for snipers.

Spoiler

At this point everybody thought the exit would be right behind the red door. Not quite! Pressing the switch opened 5 compartments scattered throughout the map, in places where you might or might not have noticed something on the automap. They contained red doors and teleporters to the exit room, whose layout was explicit enough to convey the iteration of Limbo’s puzzle. Its non-linear solution was complicated further by the time-consuming navigation of the level, but I liked it anyway. Stra(n)ge Universe was full of peculiar ideas executed with variable degrees of success, including unfinished sections like the enigmatic water areas full of items, drawn like an artistic contour for the map. There is a teleporter leading there, accessible in multiplayer, but no way to return to the map since sector 395 has no tag. The experience improved with foreknowledge, and I consider this to be one of the iconic maps of The Next Generation.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 11: Circle of Death

 

 

In some ways, the best map so far! Flows nicely, with some neat experimentation in detail, and some cool and curvy marble ledges that are like something out of E4 but with plenty of wooden and marble hallways to balance it out. Not as quite in our faces as the last map, but lots of chaingunners. Gets much harder when we reach the circle with the dried lava. The library maze is quite dangerous and we softlocked ourselves a couple of times with the stupid library shelf puzzle, which actually wasn't that hard. Dungeon rock section next, along with a nasty Caco ambush and the yellow key. Coming back to the yellow key, we deal with an Arch-vile and some other enemies, then we open the yellow door, hit a switch which opens the station in the middle with a cyberdemon that's only somewhat difficult because of the torches blocking the range of fire. Collecting the red key then leads to a large ambush involving an Arch-vile or two or several Revenants. Little grindy but no matter, red door near the library, teleport and return to the bunker we saw earlier to exit. Good map, maybe the best.

lmd_#1killtnt11.zip

Edited February 20, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Ralgor]

Can anyone else get MAP13 to run in DSDA-Doom? It just spits out an error and exits...

 

Quote

P_LoadSideDefs2: sidedef 1315 has out-of-range sector num 65535

P_LoadSideDefs2: sidedef 1705 has out-of-range sector num 65535

P_LoadSideDefs2: sidedef 1833 has out-of-range sector num 65535

P_LoadSideDefs2: sidedef 2391 has out-of-range sector num 65535

P_LoadSideDefs2: sidedef 2454 has out-of-range sector num 65535

P_LoadSegs: linedef 2223 for seg 3761 references a non-existent sidedef 65535

 

Edit: GZDoom seems to handle the map just fine?

Edited February 20, 2023 by Ralgor

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map09 “The Pit”

 

The second time I’ve played “The Pit” in as many months and I haven’t touched an IWAD.

 

Brown, bony, and brutal, The Pit’s sparse texturing hints at its exacting nature. Your resources are calibrated as to require efficient ammo use and the traps are fiendishly executed. You do get a lot of recovery items though.

 

The brown opening room leads to you a brown outdoor area with walkways around a caged megasphere. While there are no secrets, you can get this mega right now by opening a wall at the southwest (kill the revenant in the cage first, that’s not a telefrag). To begin progression, head to the red key room, which has a number of problematic ground enemies and two bothersome revenants on the platform with your prize. It’s a reasonable opener but the real danger is grabbing the key itself. Bars lock you on the tiny key platform (for 30s) and hell knights port in while a bunch of ammo sink pinkies roam around the lower floor. I have… no idea how I survived this blind. My best description is that I could keep the knights on the teleporter spot by moving in and backing up, letting me deal with them one at a time. With foresight this fight isn’t a threat, you can strafe over the key back through the entrance (or camp the teleport spot). Don’t forget the stealthily revealed rocket launcher before you leave.

 

Next, we go grab the blue key and trigger nasty moment #2. The walls drop to reveal a bunch of pinkies, imps, and a vile while your exit is blocked by a metal slab. Playing blind I had the chaingun out for this highly telegraphed ambush (fastest weapon) and was fortunate in that the vile didn’t run in front and annihilate me. Staying at the key spot is probably a bad move, but I suspected this fight was cheeseable and it is. My second playthrough I edged onto the key platform which triggers the ambush but not the slab, so I just ran back to the hub and door camped them filthy casual style. Side note: I almost ran out of ammo here blind and I was already playing cautiously, you REALLY need to watch your stock. Alternatively, just remember you have the rocket launcher.

 

After some more grinding we come upon some cages with green torches under a building containing the plasma. This weapon is critical, but hitting the switch to get it unleashes nasty moment #3. You can tell where the attackers will come from thanks to two misaligned walls and I would recommend having the RL out and promptly obliterating one of the two monster closets then using it for cover. Plasma in hand, return to the hub and got through the blue door to advance to the yellow key room, which houses a cyberdemon. Goatboi and his minions aren’t too hard to deal with, but the gasbag ambush upon grabbing the yellow key is a different story. I prefer using the plasma to hose down the four pain elementals first, its dangerous to use the RL while they’re still up.

 

If you’re a bit confused (maybe it was just me) at how to leave, jump into “the pit” in the hub and head through an opening southwest to…ugh.

 

To finish, we must traverse a 20% sewage maze that from the automap looks like it constitutes almost half the level’s total acreage. Interestingly, you can head here right from the start and it looks like you can try to reach the exit with no keys… the yellow key just opens the megasphere and radsuits (possible inspiration for AD_79’s Virulent Well?). Regardless, enter the labyrinth with the plasma out and move quickly, the clock is ticking. Alright, it’s not *that* bad… I’ve just had enough with nukage mazes. The area plays fair as Angelo provides several backup radsuits sprinkled throughout and the initial megasphere easily absorbs any leak damage. My main complaint is that this place makes The Pit extremely max unfriendly… if a couple monsters escape your notice you have little time to hunt them down.

 

Overall, The Pit is Jefferson’s most mature work thus far, lacking in technical issues and strong in encounter design and ammo balance. The maze isn’t to my liking, but that’s a preference issue, albeit one I doubt is uncommon. The entire level reminds me of Plutonia 2’s Filth and the map openly display it’s Plutonia influences on its sleeve in general, both in texture use and combat design. If it wasn't for the stupid maze it would be in contention for my favorite so far.

[dististik]

MAP09 - The Pit

 

This may be my favorite map that Angelo has done yet. A mean but fair map that forced me to play a bit differently than my approach to #1 Kill and TNG up to this point. Interestingly while the map gives you plenty of plasma after a certain point it feels like I was always hurting for bullets and shells, but not to the point where I ever felt like I was being put into scenarios with not enough ammo, if that makes sense. Having to be conscious of my ammo at all times and wonder if I should burn shells on this arachnotron or bother shooting this specter even without berserk when I could potentially use my SSG to land an easy kill on a group of hitscanners later to fill up a bit first was a level of strategy I don't really think I had to really consider before now. The close quarters combat also made it interesting that while the map gives you an early rocket launcher, you can't really safely use the rockets you have to save ammo on the easier-to-use weapons outside of a few scenarios you have to be on the lookout for. Because of that I think taking on this map hit a particularly satisfying spot.

 

Each escalating key ambush was also (or I guess more accurately "encounter" in the case of the yellow key) a nice touch. For the red key ambush the first time around I accidentally stood right next to the teleport destination which caused me to be instantly killed by a hell knight melee attack but as long as you keep your distance that fight isn't too bad. By some stroke of luck the archvile in the blue key fight didn't leave his side room until I could very safely distance myself out of the cubby where the key was placed to rocket it to death but my chaingun spam in that fight left me hurting for bullets for the entire remainder of the level. The yellow key fight was an interesting approach to a cyberdemon fight, I first asked him nicely to murder all his friends and then had to get up a bit close to spam plasma while I ran circles around him since I was a bit afraid that if I stayed too far I'd eat too much splash damage. The following caco and pain elemental fight isn't bad at all so long as you focus on the meatballs first and leave the lost souls for never (side note, no idea how the door in that room is supposed to open; i randomly triggered it while spamming use everywhere I could in the room).

 

I was worried with the damaging floor maze I wouldn't be given enough time to find and kill everything but thankfully Angelo gives you ample rad suits to finish the job. All around very fun map.

 

MAP10 - The Wicked Metal Garden

 

Guys I'll be real I think the midi ruins this one for me. The map overall is fine, each ambush has a nice amount of teeth on it, combat while mostly incidental doesn't feel boring ever, and the secrets are easy to find and nice to have but if I have to hear another poorly looped play of this backing track I think I'm going to pull a Dario Casali and mute the music and forget to turn it back on ever again (okay maybe that's a bit harsh). Progression was a little confusing at first but the windows in each new teleport destination made it eventually easy for my small brain to realize where I was in physical space.

 

One thing to mention is the archvile at the yellow key ambush got a verbally aloud "Bruh" from me but sticking into one of the corners of the arena near it and spamming plasma until I could get enough of the bolts to hit it worked fine albeit lead to me taking a few more hits than I should have taken from lost souls. (Coming back to this a little later after playing map11 and I forgot to mention oof ow that hot start what the hell was that)

 

MAP11 - Circle of Death

 

On the other hand, I adore this midi as it's easily my favorite from base Doom 2. This one is pretty nice, fake wall blocking off the start of the map notwithstanding. The mazes can be annoying at times but overall could be a lot worse. Six whole secrets this time and only half of them are the same secret (or I guess two of them depending on your perspective). This map is also a whole lot less afraid to use archviles even in scenarios where they very easily lead to ghost monsters. Ended up having to use some of my precious last rockets first entering the titular area on a ghost shotgunner and ghost pink demon. Progression in the library was a bit odd, nevermind the door opening when you walk over the lit up sector in front of it instead of just... using the door special... and the switches needing to be pressed to move forward were done in a not too common way (at least not in my experience), although I was able to figure them out on my own so maybe they're intuitive on a "only a Doom player would think to move forward like this" kind of way.

 

When the cyberdemon was all that was initially guarding the red key I was a bit disappointed but after picking up I kind of wished I had kept him alive (although maybe snagging the red key from under him would have presented its own issues). I suppose I should have figured all those revenants and archviles I heard through the walls would have been released from this big huge structure. After that the secret at the very end seems awfully nice for continous players but as it stands for me all those rockets were used to kill the arachnotron guarding it and... well, that's it really. Really glad I had 200% health for that encounter, truly put me in my place.

 

Result screens:

Spoiler

 

[dististik]

On 2/19/2023 at 7:19 PM, Ralgor said:

Can anyone else get MAP13 to run in DSDA-Doom? It just spits out an error and exits...

 

Crashes in Woof! too, tried CL9 and CL21 for good measure but they all give this error...

 

 

...and when opening in UDB it gives these errors

 

Quote

Linedef 1891 is zero-length. Linedef has been removed.

Linedef 2234 is zero-length. Linedef has been removed.

Sector 517 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 516 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 515 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 509 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 489 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 487 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 483 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 481 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 479 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 477 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 470 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 469 was unused and has been removed.

Sector 455 was unused and has been removed.

 

So I just added an empty sector outside the main playspace so I could save the (presumably safety related) changes the editor made and now it loads fine. Download link here in case you don't have an editor installed and are playing in a faithful port (I hope this is okay to share).

 

2024/06/13 EDIT: Over a year later someone's brought to my attention that the above link is dead. So, here is a link hosted here on DoomWorld and is a better patch to boot: 1killtng_map13_fix.zip

 

This one's a bit smarter, only fixing MAP13 instead of being a copy of the whole wad like I had originally done, and I remembered to delete the extra sector I drew for the above method. To the best of my knowledge it should be fully demo compatible with demos recorded on the map in vanilla and demos recorded with the fix should play back on the original map without issue. Since it only fixes MAP13, make sure to load the original WAD first and my fix afterwards and it should load fine if your source port of choice crashes on the map without a fix.

Edited June 13, 2024 by dististik
Added more reliable download link.

[Ralgor]

MAP12 - “Strange Universe”
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl2, UV, Pistol start, blind run, single segment (though not at the same time in this case)
100% kills and secrets
Deaths: not sure, but probably around 5 deaths total.

 

This map is long, and has some very annoying parts to it. The rest is not bad, but only a few fights rise to something worth mentioning.

 

The first is that right off the bat you see a YSK, but attempting to grab it teleports you into a trap. This was pretty obviously a trap (to me anyway), so I made sure to explore around first. Using the SSG and the megaarmor, I never died to the ambush, though I would sometimes take over 150 damage. There isn't much health in the map so this usually put me at a slight disadvantage for the rest of the map.

 

The next interesting part is when you go through the BSK door to arrive in front of the YSK door. The fight itself isn't super difficult if you know about the chaingunner, but if not this area can be lethal. Careful positioning negates most of the challenge once you've been through it a couple times.

 

The BSK and YSK doors are something I haven't seen before. They are doors to seemingly nowhere. I think this is a good sort of gimmick. It's pretty obvious that neither door is what it seems, so I always went through on high alert.

 

Which leads to a room of teleporting hell. This section isn't hard exactly, if you're willing to take your time. Two of the barons will eventually free themselves and come for you, making them easy to kill with the SSG. The final baron seems to be permanently stuck, and so the best way I found was to kill him with the shotgun. This takes a while and is generally annoying. Trying to fight him in the teleporter maze is suicide though.

 

The YSK is at the beginning of the level, so once you collect it you have to walk all of the way back to the door through areas you already cleared. Opening the door is easy enough, and going through it takes you to the next fun fight. This time you have a plasma rifle, and you should use it to clear a space. You then fight a hapless spider mastermind, and eventually end up with the red key.

 

On your way, be careful of the blood in this area. It all hurts, and while there are lifts taking you out of it, they are not marked in any way. If you want this level's lone secret, you will need to know that it's the east and west pairs of pillars that are the lifts.

 

Unfortunately, the map loses me at this point. The red key door is at the beginning of the level again, so you have to backtrack all of the way there. But hitting the switch doesn't lead you to the exit. Instead it starts a very confusing and extended progression of switches that lead you all over the map. At this point you've already killed anything threatening, so this just extends the runtime of the map. One of the switches actually lowers a piece of floor that won't soft-lock you, but just make getting to the exit a bit more difficult. I don't know why it's there. This whole section is a bit of a pain. It's not hard, just time consuming.

 

Also, there seems to be a completely separate deathmatch section in this level. It's impossible to get 100% items due to that. I'm not sure what the real count should be.

 

Grade: D

 

Note that due to that teleporter maze, I ended up giving up on trying to do a single segment blind. I didn't mind the teleporter maze THAT much, but I knew it was going to frustrate me to no end if I kept having to kill those barons over and over again. So I ended up using saves and beating the level, then went back and did the single segment in one attempt. (Although I had only 3% health for a surprising amount of time before picking up the berserk pack.)

 

Also, my first attempt with saves ended at about the 40 minute mark. For some reason the final switch progression just eluded me for a while.

 

MAP12 - 28:40.60 (28:40)  K: 204/204  I: 3/32  S: 1/1

ralgor_#1killtng12.zip

[Ralgor]

41 minutes ago, dististik said:

So I just added an empty sector outside the main playspace so I could save the (presumably safety related) changes the editor made and now it loads fine. Download link here in case you don't have an editor installed and are playing in a faithful port (I hope this is okay to share).

 

If no one else objects, I'll use this for my playthrough and demo. It's probably best that we all use the same map anyway.

[brick]

GZDoom, Doom compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves.

 

TNG MAP11 - “Circle of Death”
The iwad name is certainly fitting here, the large circular room is the centerpiece, but there are other interesting bits. The maze in the south looks a bit like E3M2 but navigating it is easier, especially once you get on the top level. Getting the blue key allows access to the Circle, though I found the means of opening it a bit irritating: getting the plasma rifle lowers a rift, which gives access to a button that only temporarily opens the entrance. The Circle is definitely deadly, there are all manners of nasties in there. The path forward goes through a library straight out of Monster Condo, though with a few twists that make it more unique. Behind the bookcase is the passage that eventually goes to the yellow key; once there be warned, the secret outdoors can only be accessed once, and only if you're quick. There's also a teleporter past the secret, but taking it is a trap; I found myself inside a solid wall and unable to move or do anything. With the key in hand, the Circle yields another deadly fight, this time against a cyberdemon, with a horde of pinkies that join the fun a few seconds in. With Cyb yielding the red key, the exit is not far off. A very interesting and fun map.

 

TNG MAP12 - “Strage Universe” [sic]
And now for a complete 180: I hated the hour or so I spent on this map enough that I considered calling it quits, something I don't remember ever thinking after getting this far into a wad in the 29 years of playing this game. There are maybe some good things about the map: some nice lighting in parts, pretty surreal-looking and clever use of self-referencing sectors, the blue and yellow doors as portals. However every puzzle idea that looks like it could be interesting is executed in the most convoluted manner possible, and I found it excruciatingly obnoxious. I wasn't doing too bad until the red key, though even before there are some annoyances like the plasma flashing teleporter maze, the teleporting platform with the yellow key carefully positioned to make it so easy to accidentally step on it, or obligatory treks on damaging floors near the red key. But after getting said key everything fell apart for me. I backtrack to the beginning to the red door, press a switch... now what? turns out four random walls all over the map are no longer walls, have fun backtracking once again all over the map to find them, and you'd better find them in the correct order because otherwise you'll eventually hit a dead end and have to backtrack again (and maybe more than once!) all over to find what other completely unremarkable walls have opened. Did I mention that the only way out of the yellow door areas is through the flashing teleport maze? I hope you memorized the path early on! (I certainly did by the time I was done) On one of the (many) times I got stuck and was backtracking through the map, for the fifth or sixth time, I gave up and opened an editor, and found there's apparently a BFG and a bunch of other items, all marked for SP, in a series of secret areas that are, as far as I can tell, completely impossible to access outside of deathmatch. It's maps like these that give puzzles in Doom games a bad name, when this is simply the worst possible way to implement puzzle maps. And this is coming from someone who really, really like Limbo, but I found the execution here much more obscure and requiring more backtracking because of the way the map is laid out.

[Helm]

MAP12 

So there is a central arena with a mastermind guarding a red key. Once you dispatch it, you have to figure out how to get on the pedestal that the spiderman and key were on, but after lowering some obtuse pillars and getting on them to jump on top of that, you get invisible blocking lines stopping you from landing on the platform. I cannot spot the obvious (or in any case more obvious) solution to getting that key. When the player comes up with a visibly correct solution to a problem and the mapper goes 'no, invisible wall', this is where I stop playing. Next map! 

edit: oh, and footage in two parts, just for the archive.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Helm

[Ralgor]

4 hours ago, Helm said:

MAP12 

So there is a central arena with a mastermind guarding a red key. Once you dispatch it, you have to figure out how to get on the pedestal that the spiderman and key were on, but after lowering some obtuse pillars and getting on them to jump on top of that, you get invisible blocking lines stopping you from landing on the platform. I cannot spot the obvious (or in any case more obvious) solution to getting that key. When the player comes up with a visibly correct solution to a problem and the mapper goes 'no, invisible wall', this is where I stop playing. Next map! 

edit: oh, and footage in two parts, just for the archive.

 

There's a switch you missed in one of the cacodemon cubbies that open up in the northern room with the cracked ground near the red key. It's on the western side opposite of the soul sphere. It raises a step to let you get up onto the platform with the red key.

 

It's definitely something that can be easily missed.

[Helm]

Appreciate it, Ralgor. Great demos, btw. I enjoy watching them every time. Even if I go back and flip that switch, the fact that I found a smart way to get on the platform (I presume the lowering pillars are part of some unrelated secret, then) and the mapper said 'nope, and I'm not even going to put a railing on it' is enough to just move on to next map. I guess I figured out I do have some mapping standards after all :P

[Book Lord]

12 hours ago, Ralgor said:

Can anyone else get MAP13 to run in DSDA-Doom? It just spits out an error and exits...

Now that you say, I remember the game crashing for me as well on PrBoom the first time I played this map. I must fix it in the editor, following the same procedure  suggested by @dististik. For the DWMC, I used my fixed copy of the WAD.

 

Beware of MAP 13 and its triple door courtyard with the YSK. Save before entering, because you will die a lot until you learn how to beat or cheese the ambush.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Book Lord

[Celestin]

MAP12: Strange Universe

 

Teleporter: The Map.

 

The yellow key in front of the start is an obvious trap, teleporting you to one of the most cramped ambushes that Angelo Jefferson, the master of cramped ambushes, created in the whole wad, so leave it until you have better guns. Expect a trap every time you step on a teleporter pad or walk through a coloured gate. The bulk of challenge in Strange Universe comes from landing in a middle of a cramped room with enemies firing at you from every direction, while imps and demons try to tear you to shreads. Ammo is generally not an issue, weapons are dispensed in a reasonable way, so it should be a decent map. There are things in this map that are just bad.

 

A room with hyperactive teleporting linedefs is beyond dumb. I laughed when I say it the first time, like, what are you even suppose to do here? Try to kill barons and later cacodemons that shift around? Or sit and wait while their AI tries to find a way out? I chose the latter and, as you might guess, was not entertained. Even worse, you have to cross this room at least twice, if not more. I haven't figured out the teleporters' pattern and ended up randomly warping around until I was where I wanted to be.

 

By far the worst part is an ending. With all three keys, you have to backtrack through the entire map, looking for red doors. Behind each is a teleporter that leads to a switch that reveal another door somewhere. You have to do it a couple of times before you can reach the exit. Personally, this whole part is a completely pointless padding. Everything is already dead, which is a shame, because retracing your steps could be used to reuse already cleared rooms for new fights. Here, however, it's just a waste of time.

 

To end on a positive note, I like the use of sky textures and red lava to create a feeling of exploring, well, a strange universe. It breaks the monotony of otherwise brown map.

[Roofi]

Number One Kill The Next Generation - Map 12 "Strage Universe"

 

 

Did you like "Limbo" from the Ultimate Doom? Probably not but Angelo did.

 

The first time I played this map, I felt bored and confused, but also intrigued by the upside down room with the floating enemies. Indeed, the gimmick with the invisible sectors will be the best thing I will remember about this map. Apart from that, it has a ton of backtracks and teleporters to take.

 

The progression proved to be a lot clearer during my second playthrough. Most of the map was a walk in the park with simple encounters but any ambush involving a yellow key or a yellow key door was a kick in the crotch :

 

- If you're too greedy and decide to grab the key in front of you, you'll be awarded by a teleportation in a room full of enemies, such as the end of Doom's E1M8 but without the damaging floor

- The two ambushes surrounding the "portal" unlockable with a yellow key are way more dangerous than the rest of the map.

 

Needless to say but I will, the blinking dance floor with the countless teleporting linedefs represents by far the most idiotic part of the map. It serves no purpose except wasting your time. Also, the author forces you to cross through this passage few times because of the backtracks. However, you can walk on the ledge of the platform in order to skip the teleporting lines. I'm quite relieved that Angelo didn't design a trap for this part. It would have been very infuriating.

 

Now, I think "Strage Universe" (or rather "Strange Universe maybe?), was a mediocre map in this set. I don't want to call it bad because there was no unfair moment but it's clearly not a highlight in terms of exploration. 

 

NB : I played map 13 and yes. There's that one trap. We will talk about it tomorrow. :)

 

Grade : C+

 

No video again because of internet issues. The video will be uploaded another day.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Roofi